Credit and debit card usage to conduct commercial transactions between vendors and customers is a daily occurrence in modern life. The ease of use and ubiquitous integration of credit cards into everyday life is such that many customers do not carry cash and rely instead on credit or debit cards for all purchases.
At the same time, increased population mobility and globalization has resulted in varied ethnic groups operating and patronizing businesses, and in some cases, the merchant operating a card terminal may not speak the same language as the customer. This can pose difficulty if the point of sale terminal displays only one language that either the merchant/operator or the customer cannot understand. In such instances, language may become a barrier to completing a transaction. Business establishments in multi-ethnic areas and those whose operators may not speak the language of the local culture in which they are located need to accommodate both merchant and customers by providing terminals usable by each.
In the past, credit card terminals have been programmed to access a database, server or run a program that could only display and print one language per transaction. Typically, that language would be either the language of the merchant or the native language of the business establishment's location. For a customer that does not speak the language displayed by the credit card terminal, the customer might not be able to fully understand the transaction and may distrust the business and forego the transaction. Where the merchant needs operating instructions or needs to troubleshoot the terminal, having a display in the merchant's language while printing receipts or having custom displays in the customer's language is not presently available.
Conventionally, there is a need for a credit card terminal to be able to display information in the merchant's language and display information or print a receipt in the customer's language so that both parties can complete the transaction with a high level of comfort.